


Violet

by Cosmic_Biscuit



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Animals, Fluff, Gen, Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 17:57:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmic_Biscuit/pseuds/Cosmic_Biscuit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is a very strange little bird, and that may not be a bad thing at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Violet

It wasn’t the first time they’d ever been called for exotic animal smuggling. Though, to Kotetsu’s memory, it was the first time they’d ever been called out for exotic animal smuggling involving _genetic engineering_ , so none of them were quite sure what to expect.

Luckily, most of the assorted hybrid creatures were docile enough not to give them any trouble. While the heroes handled the gang and clean up, animal control easily took their cargo in hand.

The two of them were collecting as much documentation as they could find to be entered into evidence, when Kotetsu heard a quiet thumping noise. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Barnaby asked, looking up from a box of files he was carrying out of a saferoom. Then he tilted his head, hearing it, too.

They hunted around the office and the saferoom, then found the source: one of the boxes on the pile was moving. Barnaby flipped down his faceplate. “Definitely a heat signature. Can’t make out the shape, though.”

“Live, or something possibly mechanical?”

“Not su-“

The box answered the question _for_ them, as whatever was inside began bumping against the cardboard side again, this time hard enough that it toppled off the stack. Barnaby quickly lunged forward to keep it from hitting the ground-

-and caught a wine and gold ball of fluff as it tumbled out the open end. 

It uncurled itself from the protective ball it had made to reveal a beak that was almost as long as it was tall, and looked up at the armored hero with big black eyes before giving a little cheep.

“Aww,” Kotetsu said, peering at it. “What is it? And why was it hidden back here in a box instead of out in one of the cages?”

“Well, it's a bird, obviously, but other than that, I have no idea,” Barnaby replied, but before he could set the creature down, it began climbing up an arm of his armor with strong feet and sharp little claws. “Uh, could you-?”

“Sure.” Kotetsu reached out and carefully plucked the bird off his partner, but as soon as it was no longer in contact with Barnaby, it began shrilly crying and struggling.

The noise brought Blue Rose, who poked her head in the door. “Where the hell did you find that?”

“In a box.” Trying to get it to stop making the horrible noise, Kotetsu put the bird back in his unwilling partner’s hands.

The bird immediately shut up, snuggling itself in comfortably.

“This… could be a problem.”

=

After hours of talking with animal rescue groups and sanctuaries, and multiple failed attempts at removing the bird from Barnaby -both in his armor and out- without it going ballistic, the options of what to do had finally been worn down to only one.

Kotetsu prided himself on not laughing when his partner had been told he would simply have to keep the thing until it was old enough to not be so attached to him anymore.

It had been _really_ hard, especially with the miffed expression on Barnaby’s face as the bird contentedly fluffed itself up in his lap.

Even so, he had a feeling he was skating on thin ice, so later that evening, he opted to show up with some soup and salad for them, and nuts for the bird. To his surprise, he found Barnaby allowing the bird to cuddle on his shoulder while he worked on his laptop. “I guess you two made friends, huh?”

“Thankfully, she’s been pretty well behaved. And a quick learner. I already have her housetrained.”

“Impressive. So have you figured out what she is, yet?” Kotetsu asked, offering the bird a handful of nuts, which she happily snapped down. He was kind of glad to see that she didn’t mind him as long as he wasn’t removing her from her ‘perch’.

“Possibly. I called back a few of the bird sanctuaries we talked with, and did some image searches. Body and beak shape match a spotted kiwi, but her coloring and dietary habits are more in line with a pohnpei lorikeet.”

“That’s an interesting combo," Kotetsu said as if he knew what those species actually were. Luckily, he was at an angle where he could just barely see the results of Barnaby's searches, which gave him a little better idea. "We still don’t know why the box, though, do we?”

“No. And I doubt we ever will. Her creators don’t exactly seem inclined to talk.” Barnaby leaned back on the couch he’d finally bought after much wheedling, reaching up to rub a fingertip against the bird’s nosebridge, a motion she made a contented little rumbly twittering noise that somewhat reminded Kotetsu of a cat purring. They both looked so comfortable that Kotetsu had to hide a smile before sitting down to begin doling out food.

“You gonna name her?”

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Barnaby said with a one-shouldered shrug, to keep from throwing the bird off. “She won’t be mine permanently, so I don’t see the point.”

“But you don’t know how long she’ll be staying with you. You gotta call her something besides ‘hey, you’ or ‘bird’. What about Violet?”

“That... actually doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘actually’?”

Their banter was cut off by a demanding cheep for more nuts, and Kotetsu obliged before handing Barnaby his salad. 

As the three settled in to eat, Kotetsu leaning against Barnaby’s other side while Violet had tucked her head against her keeper’s cheek -either just happy to be there or eyeing Barnaby’s food- he noticed that the comfortable feeling had come back, this time encompassing them all.

He secretly kind of hoped Barnaby wouldn’t be giving the bird away to anyone any time soon.


End file.
